Firewood Day in the Bovey Valley
On a chilly March morning the residents in the vicinity of the Bovey Valley Woods had the chance to pick up a load of firewood from the woodland gate. After the winter’s thinning work throughout the valley, a few remaining stacks of logs stood beside the forest track. The bulk of the large Douglas fir and larch sawlogs resulting from the work had been extracted to commercial sawmills, leaving a few tonnes of low grade hardwood thinnings.
It is widely believed that firewood keeps you warm in three ways – when you cut it, stack it and then burn it. Adding in a few off-cuts from the
previous softwood milling demonstration
, an ideal blend of fuels was made ready to take home. This will be stacked to season in preparation for next winter when the gradual woodland thinning will continue, slowly restoring the Bovey Valley Woods into a more natural and diverse wild place.
by Matt Parkins
